


Only Jim.

by Toshi_Nama



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-16
Updated: 2018-03-16
Packaged: 2019-04-01 07:22:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13993326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toshi_Nama/pseuds/Toshi_Nama





	Only Jim.

Rylen looked at Jim.  “Jaimessen Artur Thominson, what in Andraste’s name are you doing  _ here?” _

Jim looked at his cousin.  “There’s so much sand…it gets everywhere.”

“Yes, Jim, it does.  Now report.”

“I…Commander Cullen had this message to hand-deliver.”  He dug in his belt, then the messenger pouch, then his pack, getting redder by the minute.  Rylen was pretty sure it was embarrassment, because the peeling sunburns had already turned his fair-skinned cousin into something that looked…molted.  After desperate scrabbling, he found it in his messenger pouch, all smashed into a ball.  The seal, somehow, hadn’t been broken.

Rylen sighed.   _ If this isn’t about that cook I asked for…   _ Then again, he had maybe said more than he should have in that letter, even to someone he’d known for the last fifteen years.  They  _ were  _ Commander and Captain now, even if Cullen didn’t stand on too much ceremony with his officers.  But by Maferath himself, this assignment was miserable.  Dirt, dust, darkspawn…everything smelled horrible.  His eyes widened as he read Cullen’s simple, bold writing.  

_ Find him something to do.  He’s not allowed back to Skyhold unless you receive orders otherwise, for his sake.’ _

Rylen sighed.   _ Bollocks.  _  He noticed someone being greeted with great excitement.  “Who is that?”

“The new cook, Ser!”  His Sergeant was ecstatic.  It meant he no longer had to try come up with a rota of people who could at least create ‘edible’ in the middle of a Maker-damned desert.  Rylen gave a brief sigh of relief – whatever his cousin had done, it wasn’t tied to the letter he’d sent to the Commander three weeks ago.   _ He  _ wasn’t involved.

“Alright, everyone.  The Sergeant will find you somewhere to bed down.  Jim…” his cousin looked up hopefully, “talk to the healers about your face.  And hands.  And just…in general.  I’m sure they have a salve or something.  I’ll see you after supper.”  He headed back to his room, wondering what in the hell he was supposed to do with a messenger who managed to be good enough to recover from the fact everything he tried turned to shit – who was also family.  And who he secretly admired for the fact he never gave up, no matter how badly he managed to muck things up.

He looked over the damned reports – no wonder Cullen had always been in a bad mood.  If the nightmares weren’t enough…he sighed and rubbed his wrists.  He knew he was playing fast and loose with the Commander’s demand he stay on the lyrium, but he was so tired of the questions he couldn’t answer to himself.  Reports.  Right.

Another man down to what looked like quillback poison.  That was an odd relief; the beasts, amazingly ugly crosses between a pig and a porcupine, but the size of a wild boar and  _ red _ of all things, were disgusting and hard to kill, like everything seemed to be out here, but almost everyone recovered from the poison it shot.  But he didn’t have anyone else to fill that patrol…wait.  It wasn’t a challenging one, just a basic patrol from here, around the oasis and past the old mine.  Bandits kept coming back to that camp, but that and the quillbacks were the only real threats, unlike the patrols to the north.  Something  _ important, _ because you really needed three to deal with a quillback if it had little…whatever-they-weres, but not  _ dangerous. _

_ I can…that would work.  You need someone to track distance, and write up the reports.  Not enough of my people out here are comfortable with numbers or letters.   _ He saw Jim’s face, those earnest blue eyes and desperate desire to do something  _ right _ , and hoped he wasn’t about to make a terrible mistake.

**

“The healers say the salve will start working in a couple of days.”  Despite the good news, Jim’s face was forlorn.

“Jim, what happened?”

His cousin gave a wild look.  “Nothing!  Why would you think anything was wrong, or happened, or didn’t happen…?”

Rylen just sighed and rubbed his head.  “Jaimessen, because you’re here.  You’re one of Leliana’s best when it comes to distilling meaning out of all the reports she gets, especially when it comes to talking to anyone outside her agents.  Did you  _ ask  _ for this so you didn’t have to ask Threnn out?”  Not that he could understand why anyone would want to spend time with the prickly, bitter former sergeant, now former quartermaster.  But she’d taken some of the newer messengers and ‘straightened them out,’ from what Bree had said.  ‘Put the fear of another Threnn lecture in them’ was how he’d translated it.  And he watched Jim’s face fall.

“She doesn’t…she’s not…I mean there’s…” his words fell apart.  “I tried to write, because I can’t  _ talk  _ to her, not about this, but it got all mixed up in the other papers, and when I tried to get it back from the Commander’s desk…”  his face turned purple.  “And now I’m here, but it doesn’t matter because she doesn’t want me, it’s just that too-perfect Chevalier!”

Rylen sighed.  So, lovestruck, depressed  _ and  _ managed to walk in on the Commander.  Again.  That would do it.  “Has your swordwork gotten any better?”

“It’s better than my bow?”

So, no.  Then again, he usually managed to avoid hurting anyone  _ else  _ with the sword, so there was that.  “Ok, I’m adding you to the oasis patrol.  It’s just for a couple weeks, until the usual can get back on his feet.”  Rylen tried for a cheerful tone.  “This will give you a unique chance to see what the reports of yours are all about.”

**

Rylen swore, loudly, colorfully and creatively, as the diminished patrol reported in.   _ Two days.  TWO DAYS!  That’s all it took.  _  He stopped as he saw their wide eyes.   _ Bloody Maferath, may he have buggered the Archon himself.  They’re taking notes. _  A deep breath.  Another.  “So, you’re telling me he started sliding down the side of the canyon.”  Quick nods.  “And…you just watched.”  Ashamed nods – they were beginning to realize ignoring the ‘new kid’ may have been a stupid, childish mistake.  “And then you saw a varghest dragging him into a cave.”  Frozen terror now, as his razor-sharp voice made their babbled explanations clear as nothing but excuses.  “Get out.”

He put his head in his hands, then looked at the schedules, patrols and equipment.  “Vaniss!”  His orderly poked her head into his office.

“Ser?”

“Get the sergeant.  Now.”  Unless he could come up with a miracle, it would take another week…or even two…before he’d have a team he could send into the Oasis to try and recover Jim’s body.  He pulled over a piece of paper, to tell the Commander – and Inquisitor – that he at least knew what had happened to the water supply.

**

He had to join that damned patrol, had to have them take him to where he’d managed to kill his cousin.

“Here, Ser.”  The wind had wiped away any sign of his slide, or the rocks that had gone down with him.

He tied a rope around his waist, then the other end to a sturdy outcropping.  “You two, hold on to the rope as well.  The third will keep watch.  I need to get closer.”

“Captain!  We can’t – you can’t…”

“Overrule me, because I outrank you.  Now don’t fuck this up.”  He started moving toward the dropoff, and watched as they went through the calculus, realized that the sergeant would personally flay them alive if they also lost the Captain, and did what they were told.  The sand was terrible, loose and sliding under his feet, but he still found enough rocks to start working his way down.  All he wanted was to see how the lay of the land was, he told himself – to make sure that unlike most varghest prey, Jim wasn’t still suffering.  The monstrous creatures, some unholy combination of dog, wyvern and bird, preferred to bring live prey to their nests.  It stayed fresher that way.  He heard echoes in the canyon, and closed his eyes in pain.  Then snapped them open again as the cries started to make words.

“It’s ok!  I promise, I’ll be fine!  I…I’m just not hungry right now, really…I just need another drink of water!”  Worried and desperate, Jim’s voice rang clear.  But since his voice was always worried and desperate, that was a good sign.

He took a deep breath, then used his ‘Captain’s’ shout.   _ “JIM!” _

A startled “Rylen?” came back.

He looked down – too far, he didn’t have rope enough to find a way to get his cousin out.  “Jim!  Are you unhurt?”

“I…lost my salve and got a bad scrape down my leg, but…but I just don’t know how to tell her I don’t  _ like _ quillback!”  His voice was edging toward panic.

“Ok, Jim, we can fix this.”  Shouting in a calm voice was a challenge, Rylen noted absently.  “I’m going to toss down my rations…that will give you something to eat.  We’ll figure out how to get messages, and how to kill the varghest.  It might take a few days.”

“Wait!  You…you can’t  _ kill _ her, Rylen, she has babies!  And she…she cares, and she’s just trying to take care of me, even though it’s all wrong!”

He started beating his head against the nearest outcropping.  Of  _ course  _ his cousin got adopted.  Why not.  What else could go wrong?  This.  Now Jim wanted to protect the damned thing.  “I’ll find a way, Jim.”

**

__ _ ‘…so Jim managed to lead the varghest – and her…pups?  Whatever baby varghests are called, they’re even uglier when they’re little…two ravines over.  We blocked off the canyon, but it’s in a perfect position for fennecs and hyenas to fall in when they’re chasing each other.  Now, Cullen, take him back.  It’s not his fault he’s a love-struck idiot.  Sooner or later, Threnn’ll notice and he’ll be her problem, not ours.’ _


End file.
